View full sizeDave Dieter / The Huntsville TimesFirst Sgt. Robert Fearn escorts his daughter, Janelle Lawrence, from the school. She was standing next to the shooter when he pulled the trigger.

MADISON - Discovery Middle School student Janelle Lawrence was standing near 14-year-old Todd Brown when another student fatally shot him during a Friday afternoon class change.

"I looked over and heard this big 'pow,' like a balloon popping," Lawrence, 15, said.

Lawrence went to Brown, who lay motionless on the floor. She thought he had passed out until someone said he had been shot and she saw blood on the floor.

"I saw (him) and he walks up, and he's very calm," 15-year-old Aaron Sims said of the shooter, another Discovery student. "I didn't think anything was up. I was about eight feet away.

"He came up from behind Todd, pulled the gun out of his jacket pocket, put it to the back of his head and shot it," Sims said. "Then he lowered the gun, cocked it again and walked away like nothing happened ... creepy."

Brown was rushed to Huntsville Hospital and his death was confirmed just before 8 p.m., about a half-hour before officials told a press conference the 14-year-old suspect will be charged with murder.

Today, prayer groups and counseling will be offered to the 1,000 Discovery students in this bedroom community that "lives for our kids," in the words of Mayor Paul Finley.

Sunday, Madison will hold a town meeting at 2 p.m. at Bob Jones High School to talk through the tragedy, city leaders said. Monday, schools will reopen with counselors from Huntsville, Madison County and other area school systems ready to help students.

Jermey Tuttle, a ninth grader, was about 10 feet away when the shooting happened. "I ran because others ran, and then I smelled the gunpowder," Tuttle said.

The students ran because they didn't think the shooter was done.

"After he shot, I just stood there, trying to figure out what was going on," Sims said. "It didn't sound like a gun. It was a small pop, like a cap gun. I saw Todd fall and ran to the nearest classroom.

"When I was in the classroom, the school announced a Code Red. When they called that, I knew it was a real gun and Todd was shot."

Tuttle also ran into a nearby classroom with other students and shut the door. He held it closed because the substitute teacher couldn't lock it, Tuttle said, and he hid behind a pillar in fear.

"I remember my older brother teaching me how to take a gun away, and I was thinking about what I could do if I had to," Tuttle said. "I was waiting for a kid mad at the world to come in."

So was seventh-grader Hannah Manis, waiting in another locked classroom full of "screaming" students. "What was scary was (the fear) that he was running around and was going to shoot us," Manis said.

The locked classrooms were part of the school system's "Code Red" emergency plan. Leigh Ann Bruce, who taught in Madison until 2005, said teachers routinely rehearse intruder and shooting drills.

"Code Red meant that there was an actual situation where someone was hurt or someone with a gun was in the building," said Bruce, who had worked at Bob Jones High.

Upon hearing a Code Red announcement, teachers are instructed to lock their classroom doors from the inside, usher the children to the back of the room away from all windows and await an "all clear."

After the shooting, Janelle Lawrence said the shooter went into a boys' bathroom. "He walked into the bathroom and put the gun in the last stall, is what a lot of the students said in their statements to the police," Lawrence said. "He just sat in the stall until police came and got him."

View full sizeDave Dieter / The Huntsville TimesParents line up to pickup their children from Discovery. Some found it easier to walk.

A school resource officer took the boy into custody, authorities confirmed. He is being held at the Neaves Davis Center for Children, the juvenile detention center in Huntsville.

Madison School Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler said a 911 call was placed at 1:46 p.m. It was routed to the Madison Fire Department, which staffs its trucks with paramedics, and a truck was on the scene at 1:48 p.m. A HEMSI ambulance also arrived "quickly," Fire Chief Ralph Cobb said. MedFlight was called, but the pilot vetoed a takeoff because of the rain and wind, Cobb said.

Just as at other school shootings around the nation, cell phones played a key role in spreading information, and misinformation, Friday afternoon.

Student Manis said her substitute teacher, recently arrived from Florida, learned what was happening during the lockdown from a friend in Florida who called his cell phone after seeing news of the shooting on television.

All over Huntsville and Madison County, parents desperately called and texted their kids, then rushed to the scene and waited.

"It was hard," Sandy Weisner said of the time between hearing of the shooting at her job at Intuitive Research and finally reaching son Alex Weisner, a ninth grader.

"I was in a meeting at work," Weisner said. "People started calling saying a ninth grader had been shot. I couldn't get him."

"I couldn't get through," Alex said. "I couldn't get a signal."

Sandy Weisner was one of hundreds of Discovery parents who jammed Hughes Road Friday afternoon, waiting while their children remained inside the school under lockdown for more than an hour.

Huntsville police, Madison County deputies, and state troopers responded to help with traffic and security, and Madison Mayor Paul Finley walked the car line assuring parents their kids were OK.

Asbury United Methodist Church just down Hughes Road was one church that opened its doors, youth pastor Peter Dahlein said.

"Obviously the kids are going to be grieving and we wanted to be here for them," said Dahlein. "We believe they will be looking for answers and there are answers through trusting and hope in Jesus Christ. They fear this might happen to them."

Facebook and other social networking sites were filled with rumors and speculation Friday night, a fact Madison officials acknowledged in their last press briefing 8:30 p.m.

But to protect their investigation, officials released no details and took no questions, leaving the press conference after thanking the other communities that offered help, urging prayer for the affected families and praising the response of the first responders.

Discovery is scheduled to open Monday, and reactions to that varied Friday at the scene.

"School is supposed to be a safe place," Janelle Lawrence said, adding that she doesn't know if she can return to school Monday.

"I'll be nervous," she said. "I know when I pass that spot in the hall that I'll cry."